SG Update 2-27

During this week’s Student Government [SG] meeting, the senate was made aware of a revision to a policy regarding student’s research, the academic calendar for the 2016-2017 year was introduced and an amendment to the graduate senator election was suggested.

Policy Change for Disclosure of Research Information

Dr. Ryne Raffaelle, associate provost and vice president for research, approached SG on Feb. 27 in order to inform them about a change in policy pertaining to the disclosure of research performed at RIT.

Raffaelle explained that after a previous president’s association with the CIA was brought into question, a policy had to be created that specified how information pertaining to research done at the Institute is made publicly available.

The revisions to the policy include the acknowledgement that this information needs to be made available online. The policy also prevents publication restrictions made by companies. “Graduate students, PhD students … need to be able to publish their papers, their master theses … Even faculty need to get their papers out there,” Raffaelle commented.

Approval of 2016-2017 Academic Calendar

Joseph Loffredo, associate vice president and registrar, presented the 2016-2017 Academic Calendar to SG for approval. The calendar included some revisions, but Loffredo said it was almost identical to the 2015-2016 calendar.

One of the most important changes was the removal of the “reading day.” The reading day is a study day set aside for students the day before the beginning of exams. Although many senators felt the removal was unjustified, Loffredo believed the action was made with students in mind. “The feeling last year was that many students didn’t want it … Because classes end on Friday, you now have two days to study,” Loffredo commented.

Graduate Senator Election Amendments

Kshitij Luthria, graduate senator, took to the floor a proposal to amend the current by laws for SG. Luthria believes the election process for the graduate senator should take place at the same time as the elections for the rest of the senate in the spring. However, the amendment was tabled for a later date.